I just got an interesting question about text on menus.
It bothers the questioner when things aren't capitalized on menus or there's no punctuation.
I think they want me to say menus should follow standard English rules, but I've never been able to get worked up about menus. The "errors" or pretentious formatting are all just part of the restaurant experience to me.
@grammargirl Adding to confusion, in Quebec menus are usually in 2 languages, with the English nominally smaller. Ensuring point size and contrast lead to clarity is more important than grammar. Recently had to use the camera on my phone with zoom to see what was what.
@stephanie@Chigaze I realized after I wrote it that I took an awfully long time to get to "restaurant." I wanted to edit it to make it more clear, but I think it would have reset the poll.
@grammargirl
Did graphic design for many years and have helped a restaurant-owner friend with his menu layout. Voted “Anything Goes” because holy crap, menus!
Menus are a cavalcade of competing needs and priorities. Max info, min space, legibility, clarity of content, user limitations, lighting, “specials”, branding, etc.
Have pity on the menu designer. Unless it’s a complete disaster, know they suffered too.
I’d rather do a 64-page annual report than another front & back menu.
@grammargirl I have a related question: How do I punctuate bullet items, especially on slides. Usually, they are not sentences — they are just snippets of text, so no need for punctuation. But occasionally one item on the list gets longer, and better presented as one or two full sentences, which ought to be punctuated. But then the other items feel left out…
@marinaepelman It varies from style guide to style guide. AP style is to put periods at the end of text in bullets even if the text isn't a complete sentence.
@grammargirl I feel like the text on a menu should be internally consistent, but it doesn’t have to follow MLA or AP style guidelines. Words shouldn’t be misspelled unless it’s on purpose (i.e., name of a dish, etc.). Descriptions of dishes should be reasonably readable, so punctuation for clarity makes sense, but capitalization, end punctuation, and Oxford commas aren’t necessary.
@grammargirl As long as I can get a sense of what's being offered, I am fine with a "house style." Separately, my mom would like higher point sizes on menus. She often uses a magnifying glass and the flashlight on her phone because of tiny type on menus.
@grammargirl As a dev and author, menus need to be short, clear, and understandable. As far as punctuation goes, they need to be consistent in the app or environment. If anything, they need exclamation points because they are directives. “File!, Edit!,Quit!” ;)
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